UNITED STATES - MAY 10: Activists hold signs during rally outside the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Twenty-five years ago, I had a life-changing experience. I got the biggest break in my career. My application to do a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, was accepted, and I was offered funding support through a National Institutes of Health program called the Fogarty AIDS International Training Program. I had little money those days, and without NIH funding and a welcoming professor who cared deeply about global health, I could have never left India for higher education in the United States.

Today, I chair a department of global and public h

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